Lew Klessel

Lew is a member of Beckway’s Advisory Council, providing strategic and operational guidance to Beckway as it continues to grow and expand the firm’s business units.

Lew has served as a managing director on the operating teams of two private equity firms for 20 years.  From 2017 to 2024, he was a managing director and operating partner leading multipe portfolio investments in the distribution, manufacturing, marketing and specialty chemicals industries at New Mountain Capital.  From 2005 to 2017, Lew was a managing director and operating partner helping to build out the portfolio operating capabilities at Bain Capital.  Prior to that, Lew held several senior operating roles at Home Depot, including President of HD Supply, a $1 Billion B2B distribution business supplying MRO products to the multifamily and hospitality industries.  Before that, Lew founded the Strategic Business Development group at The Home Depot, served as a strategy consultant with McKinsey & Company and was a certified public accountant with Ernst & Young.

Lew earned his undergraduate degree from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and his MBA from Harvard Business School, where he was a Baker Scholar.